My dream school is San Diego State. I used the net price calculator, and it is estimated that I will have to pay about 58,000 a year, with a Pell Grant already included in the price. I know there are scholarships and other financial aid out there, but I’m worried it won’t be enough to pay for school, even with a job. I would be an out-of-state student; I live in Colorado, and obviously, San Diego is in California. I could use some help figuring out how to pay for college. Thanks.
San Diego state is a California public university so the best financial aid is available for California residents. As an OOS applicant, you are only eligible for Federal aid and not California state aid which makes up the bulk of the need-based financial offered at SDSU.
Also SDSU like most of the California public universities do not offer much merit aid/scholarships which are very limited in number and highly competitive. First time Freshman applying to SDSU are automatically considered for a few merit scholarships such as the Presidential scholarship, First year High achieving scholarship, Honors college scholarships to name a few. Here is the list: Recruitment/Merit Scholarships | Student Affairs and Campus Diversity | SDSU
Once you enroll, there will be other scholarships that you can apply: SDSU Aztec Scholarships | Student Affairs and Campus Diversity | SDSU
Most of these scholarships can bring costs down but do not expect a significant impact to the overall costs. If you and your family cannot afford to pay close to full fees, then SDSU may not be an affordable option.
4 Likes
Give up the idea of a dream school --especially a CA public as an OOS student. Focus on affordability.
You can always move to CA after graduation.
5 Likes
You have very good public universities in Colorado.
Students need to pick universities that are affordable. For most students this will restrict their choices.
$58,000/year is a lot to spend for university. You cannot borrow that much. You cannot earn that much through a part time job while you study. Public universities in California have very little financial aid for out of state students (usually none).
1 Like
What makes it your “dream school”? Please see if you can find a school with similar features that is in your budget because unfortunately this one is not
2 Likes
Go to college in Colorado which is where you have instate status. You won’t be reducing the cost of a CA public much. You will get zero aid from the CA college, and those outside scholarships will not cover your costs most likely.
Or look at your GPA and SAT or ACT scores, and see if there is a college where you will get significant merit aid.
If you are Pell eligible, it’s not likely that your family can afford a CA college.
2 Likes
To be honest, I don’t think SDSU is worth $58K COA. For in state students, it only cost $28K. Why do want to go SDSU for such high COA? What other choices do you have?
1 Like
Go someplace instate that you can afford and consider an exchange to CA for a semester or year.
San Diego State is not currently participating, but these CA colleges are:
CALIFORNIA
California Polytechnic State U, San Luis Obispo
California State University, Chico
California State University, East Bay
California State University, Monterey Bay
California State University, Northridge
California State University, San Bernardino
California State University, Stanislaus
San Jose State University
Sonoma State University
“NSE utilizes two options for payment of tuition and fees. When you are a student on NSE Exchange you will pay resident tuition and fees to your HOST campus or your regular tuition and fees to your HOME campus. One or the other, not both.“
3 Likes
The reason everyone is telling you that you won’t and can’t find funds to pay for San Diego State is because there is no funding for students who don’t reside in California. As previously mentioned, the students who do have need, and who are residents of California, are eligible for financial aid from the State of California. That’s a different “account” than the Federal Pell Grant.
The State is really tight with the budget but has high numbers of California students who want to attend, so the State cannot afford to fund non-residents. They don’t have the money and they’re not going to raise taxes to get the money for students whose families don’t live in the state and pay the taxes to support the State.
The UC system and the CSU system were developed by the State of California, years ago, to provide an affordable alternative for the thousands of students who couldn’t go, or afford, the 200 year-old established universities outside of the state.
As the California universities became more prestigious and popular, the State realized that they could not afford to fund these schools, for all of the thousands of students who wanted to attend a California university from out of state.
It didn’t help that the weather and the location of the California schools has been a lure, for many years, for students who live in other parts of the country.
So California began charging out of state rates for people whose parents didn’t reside in California and who hadn’t been paying hefty taxes on a yearly basis.
If you are on a Pell grant, that tells us a lot about your ability to pay for SDSU. As an Aztec, I’m sorry that you can’t afford a quarter of $1 million to go to San Diego State for four years. It’s a great school but it’s just a school. It’s just too expensive for non-residents.
Hopefully you can visit or become employed in San Diego, after you graduate from your college.
I’m sorry we couldn’t be much help.
3 Likes
Since you qualify for Pell grants, the public universities in CA (CSUs, Cal Polys, and UCs) are unaffordable..but there are other colleges in California which may be affordable - run the NPC on St Mary’s California, LMU-LA, Whittier (all 3 selective), Occidental, Pitzer, USC (all 3 highly selective). Is any of those affordable?
Which one(s)?
What do you like about SDSU?
If you give us your stats we can help you find colleges that are affordable AND share characteristics with SDSU. 
As is mentioned above, if you do well in college, participate in clubs and internships, and don’t have debt, you can choose to work in CA, perhaps in San Diego!
The only way to go to a California university out of state is to have rich parents. Even then, it’s a poor value compared to the quality of education you could get in Colorado for the price. It doesn’t sound like your parents fall under the category of “super wealthy.” The school is not a realistic choice.
1 Like